Battle of Embata

Part of the Social War (357-355 BC)

Date	Autumn 356 BC
Location	Chios, Greece
Result	Chian victory

Belligerents

Athenians

Chians

Commanders and leaders

Chares of Athens, Iphicrates, and Timotheos

Strength

120 naval vessels

100 triremes

The Battle of Embata was a naval battle fought in 356 BC between the Chians and the Athenians led by Chares.

Battle

The Athenians possessed a fleet of 120 naval vessels while the Chians possessed 100 galleys. This specific naval battle was fought within the straits between the island of Chios and the Anatolian mainland. The arrival of stormy weather compelled Chares's collaborators, Iphicrates and Timotheos (or Timoleon), to abandon the overall expedition. Chares, left with only one-third of his fleet, attacked the Chians and suffered defeat with heavy losses.^[1]

Aftermath

On a more specific note, Iphicrates and Timotheos both commanded a supplementary force of 60 naval vessels and joined up with Chares's fleet in the summer of 356 BC. After Chares suffered defeat in the autumn expedition, he ultimately established a lawsuit against both Timotheos and Iphicrates.^[2] Timotheos faced impeachment in the aftermath of the lawsuit, which led to his ruination. As a result, Isocrates developed a personal hatred for Chares since Timotheos was one of his closest pupils.^[3]

References

Citations

↑ Harbottle, p. 85. "Embata (Social War). Fought 356 BC, when an Athenian fleet of 120 sail, under Chares, designed to attack the Chians, with 100 galleys, in the straits between Chios and the mainland. The day providing stormy, however, his colleagues Iphicrates and Timoleon declined the enterprise as too hazardous, and Chares attacking alone, with a third of the fleet, was defeated with heavy loss."
↑ Mossé, p. 41. "Early that summer a supplementary fleet of sixty ships commanded by Timotheos and Iphikrates came to join Chares' fleet, and the famous battle of Embata took place off Chios in the autumn of 356, following which Chares, who had joined battle alone and been defeated, brought a lawsuit against Iphikrates and Timotheos. The war lasted one year longer, and was notable essentially for the operations undertaken by Chares in Asia."
↑ Flower, p. 128. [Footnote] "Isocrates had a very personal reason for hating Chares, in that Chares had ruined Timotheus, the pupil dearest to Isocrates, by impeaching him after the battle of Embata in 356 BC."

Sources

Harbottle, Thomas Benfield. Dictionary of Battles from the Earliest Date to the Present Time. S. Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd., 1904 (Original from Harvard University).
Mossé, Claude (translated by Jean Stewart). Athens in Decline, 404-86 B.C. Routledge, 1973. ISBN 0-7100-7649-5
Flower, Michael Attyah. Theopompus of Chios: History and Rhetoric in the Fourth Century BC. Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-19-815243-4

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